The Weekender 08/11/2009
Submitted by weekender on Mon, 09/11/2009 - 12:01
Wow it's getting quite close to the end of the year I've just realised - into Movember already!
Sport
Well you win one you lose one. That's the end result of the various codes of rugby this weekend. The All Blacks withstood a Welsh fightback to win 19-12 after the Welsh spent the week building up to try & end 56 years of hurt (since they last beat the AB's). It seems the Welsh have something to complain about after a Dan Carter tackle on Martin Roberts was high & the Welsh are also blaming the ref.
In national rugby a predictably boring AirNZ cup wound up this weekend with Canterbury beating Wellington 28-20 in the final. Wellington has been in eight finals in the past 11 years and only won one of those.
In rugby league, firstly the Australian's thrashed France 42-4 to make the Four Nations final, but the Kiwis had a shock 20-12 loss to England and were knocked out. It's a bit of a pity since the Kiwis have shown they were able to match the Aussies in the first game.
In national rugby league the Warriors having started training for next year and in a huge shock, Steve Price has been dumped as the captain with one year to go on his contract. He is being replaced by Simon Mannering.
Wales didn't have a good weekend against NZ with the Black Sticks beating them 6-2 in a men's hockey World Cup qualifying tournament in Invercargill.
A US based kiwi won the prestigious Tour of Southland - finishing on his wedding day! The most interesting part of the event was the 2nd stage winner who was ... Jack Bauer! Jack (who is aged "24") held the yellow jersey for two days (that would be 48 hrs...).
Team New Zealand has had a first-up win over a French syndicate by 59 seconds at the Louis Vuitton Trophy series in Nice.
The Black Caps are playing some cricket in Pakistan right now. The first one-dayer they lost by 138 runs but in the second Brendan McCullum smashed 131 off 129 to lead NZ to 303-8 & beat Pakistan by 64 runs.
NZ's under-17 soccer World Cup dream was brought to a halt after being crushed 5-0 by Nigeria this week. They progressed to the knock-out stages but fell in their first knock-out game.
The NZ Breakers made their play-off chances that bit more difficult this week after losing (for the first time at home) to the Gold Coast 110-96.
Ultra marathon runner Lisa Tamati (of the Badwater Ultra fame!) is running the length of NZ (2,200km) in 33 days - that's that equivalent of 52 marathons. The run is to raise money for CanTeen and Cure Kids. Today was the end of her 9th day (from Bluff) and tomorrow she runs through Christchurch!
Mid week the Wellington Phoenix had a huge 3-0 win over Newcastle to enter the play-offs picture. And on the weekend, in form attacker Paul Ifill scored to give them a 1-1 draw against the Perth Glory.
NZ News
Witi Ihimaera has admitted this week that his latest book contains plagiarism. It looks like he may get away with his obviously-deliberate crime after Auckland University Dean of Art investigate "and is satisfied there was no deliberate wrong doing". Yeah right. A couple of pages of someone else's writing 'accidentally' turned up in his book (& he admitted it)...??
A Wellington advertising company is in trouble after using a picture of Paris Hilton on a billboard with the world "vacant" across it.
Politicians have been having a hard go of it this week. It suddenly seems that every little thing done, said or spent is up for public debate. John Key has been questioned on his use of Air Force helicopters. Rodney Hide has been having a rough week after taking his girlfriend on an official trip that coincided with her brothers wedding, Rodney has also paid back $10,000 spent on a holiday to Hawaii (which all MP's are allowed to do). Hone Harawira got in trouble after telling the party leader he was sick and then skipping an official meeting and taking his wife to Paris for a days sightseeing. Not only that but when questioned on it by a friend he replied with a lot of swearing & a lot of blatant racism. The Maori party is considering his future.
AirNZ has joined in the mocking & announced a fare with a picture of Rodney & a phrase "Los Angeles fares with nothing to Hide", and a picture of Hone & a "sprung in Paris" special.
The plans to redevelop Auckland's Queen's Wharf for the 2011 Rugby World Cup has come to a halt after all of the designs in the design competition were 'unsuitable'.
The statue of Sir Keith Park was unveiled in Trafalgar Square, London this week. Sir Keith led the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain - if any one man won that war, it was him.
Fiji has expelled a number of diplomats including the New Zealand Acting High Commission Todd Cleaver. It was in reaction to NZ including judges in the travel ban NZ has on members of Fiji's interim government.
BNZ was closed for good this week. On the 4th of Nov all BNZ branches were "Closed for Good" in an initiative where the bank staff could lend a hand to community groups.
2: hour slow speed police pursuit in Raglan of a stolen tow truck "never really got over 50kph" & the drivers "were pretty reasonable about their driving" - Raglan, even the police chases are laid back
3: rd most popular immigration destination for NZ (behind Singapore & Saudi Arabia) in the "Potential Net Migration Index"
6: months on the run and the Rotorua couple who ran with millions of Westpac's money still haven't been caught
25: years since there was a colder October, the mean temperature was 10.7degC, 1.4degC below average
50: fireworks-related callouts for the fire service on what is traditionally the busiest day of the year - obviously we should be allowed Double-happys again
91: st anniversary of Armistice Day was celebrated around the country today
100: drivers failed a drink driving blitz in Auckland with over 16,000 tested
150,000: $ in fines for two NZers who had roles in a major international spamming operation
1m: $ donated to the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation by Farmers
7.91m: $ bet on the Melbourne Cup by kiwis was a near record & indicates the recession is over!
123m: $ per years is the cost of skin cancer in NZ
217m: $ bill for maintenance & repairs on Housing NZ's 69,000 homes
777m: $ bill for taxpayers to fix leaky homes in the next two decades
Finance NZ Dollar
GBP 0.4372 (+0.0004)
EUR 0.4892 (+0.0010)
USD 0.7262 (+0.0081)
AUD 0.7902 (-0.0084)
The Weekender NZer of the week
Katherine Mansfield
SHORT STORY MODERNISER
Katherine Mansfield revolutionised the 20th Century English short story. Her best work shakes itself free of plots and endings and gives the story, for the first time, the expansiveness of the interior life, the poetry of feeling, the blurred edges of personality. Famously, Mansfield remarked "Risk, risk anything! Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth."
http://www.nzedge.co.nz/heroes/mansfield.html
Flower Oil
When I go to a local discount store to get oil and filters for my car, I buy my wife a bouquet of flowers on display near the checkout counter.
During one trip, some women in line behind me were oohing and aahing about a husband getting flowers for his wife. "How often do you do that?" one asked.
Before I could answer, the cashier, more than familiar with my routine, said, "Every three months or 3,000 miles, whichever comes first."
This week there are some photos from a walk I did on Friday.
Check out my photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/dunwich42/TauheiRdReserve#
Darren Harrison: darren@harrison.gen.nz
The Weekender: mailed weekly (Sunday nightish)
Website: www.dunwich.co.nz/weekender/
{If these just fill up your junk mail, then send me an email & I'll take you off the list | The Weekender is not a verified news source, sometimes it's even just an opinion}
»
- weekender's blog
- Login to post comments
